An American economist elected to a senior position in the EU antitrust department overseeing Big Tech

Author: Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Fiona Scott Morton, an American economist who served as a senior antitrust official during former President Barack Obama’s term, has been appointed chief competition economist at the European Commission, the EU’s executive body said on Tuesday.

Scott Morton, 56, will take up his position on September 1, when current chief economist Pierre Regibeau retires. Scott Morton will be the first U.S. citizen and first woman appointed to this position.

It will play a key role in EU competition enforcement investigations into Alphabet’s Google, Apple, Meta Platforms and Microsoft, as well as high-profile mergers such as Amazon’s acquisition of iRobot and Figma’s deal with Adobe.

Scott Morton is currently Professor of Economics at the Yale School of Management and affiliated with the University of Edinburgh. He is also a senior consultant at Charles River Associates, a consulting firm that advises numerous technology giants.

Scott Morton was Chief Economist in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from May 2011 to December 2012.

Her appointment to the elite antitrust unit in the European Commission was met with criticism even before it was announced.

In May, the Balanced Economy Project, the Corporate Europe Observatory, the European Digital SME Alliance, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, LobbyControl and the Open Markets Institute (Europe) expressed their concerns to EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager in a joint letter.

They pointed to possible conflicts of interest and Scott Morton’s opinions on counteracting excessive concentration of economic power.

Some economists and antitrust experts praised her nomination, pointing to the impressive scope of her work and articles.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Leslie Adler)